DP Tool Club 15/CD_ASCQ_15_070894.iso/vrac/cursor15.zip/CURSOR.DOC

Text File | 1994-05-26 | 11KB | 214 lines

CURSOR.COM was written for everyone who hates hard to see underline cursors.
It forces the cursor to be a block.  Unlike other programs of this type,
CURSOR is a TSR (Terminate & Stay Resident) program that continually
re-programs the cursor despite any re-programming done by applications
software.  Many applications will re-program the cursor upon entry, or exit.
CURSOR solves this problem by re-programming it to a block immediately,
so our eyes never see the change, and it remains a block. CURSOR does allow
software to turn the cursor off, but dis-allows any change in shape.
Just stick CURSOR in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.

The only problem with this program is that insert status cannot be seen with
text editors that change the cursor shape to indicate this.  PFS write and
Microsoft Word are among this catagory.  WordStar is not, and is quite happy
with CURSOR installed.

If you wish to make changes for your own benefit, feel free to do so, but
please don't re-distribute a modified version as CURSOR! Change the name to
something else!  This program was developed on a CP/M-80 system with the
2500 A.D. X8086 cross assembler.  A version of this assembler is available
to run under MS-DOS.  I encourage everyone to use this assembler, it is vastly
easier to use than the one from that big company.

To satisfy the lawyers, this program is released to the public domain.  It
may be freely distributed, but not sold for profit.  The author cannot, and
will not be held liable for any reason regarding this program.  USE AT YOUR
OWN RISK!!!!  If it turns out that it is really a worm that crashes your
hard disk, don't blame me!!  To be totally safe, examine closely, and then
re-assemble the source code, which is provided.  ENJOY!!

Mark D. Pickerill  5/16/88

CURSOR 1.2:  Upon request of a highly respected colleague, I have created
CURSOR 1.2, which (now) has two versions.  CURSOR.COM is the same as before
but CURSORC.COM is a new version that only does a check and re-program of
the cursor every 100 clock tics.  (approx. 5 seconds)  My friend felt that
re-programming it every clock tic would eat too much CPU time.  Counting
the clock tics takes almost as much code as just going ahead and reprogramming
the cursor, but to satisfy the nano-second counters.... *yea* re-programming
every clock tic probably does take a *little* longer as it calls the BIOS to
do it, but not that much longer.  Whatever, run which ever version makes you
feel the most confortable!  CURSORC drives me crazy, as some program will
re-program to a dash (you'd be suprised how often applications do this!), and
then up to 5 seconds elapse, and then it changes back to a block.  CURSOR.COM
that re-programs every clock tic *never* lets you see the change.  So which
program do you want to run?  The choice is yours!

Mark D. Pickerill 6/30/89

CURSOR 1.3:  Another "feature" of the IBM world is the annoying power-up-with-
caps-lock-off.  As I like to have caps lock on, and IBM chose not to have
a locking caps lock key so the users could choose, one of the very first
things I did was write a little 10 byte program to stick in my AUTOEXEC.BAT
that sets caps lock on in memory.  Used it for years without any problems,
however, recently when setting up an IBM for my daughter, I was trying to
get rid of any files that were absolutely un-necessary as it was one of those
one floppy drive wonders.  Thus I have added the ability to set the caps
lock on in CURSOR 1.3.  If you prefer lower case as IBM has defined it,
do nothing and it will be left alone.  If you like caps lock set, include
something after CURSOR in your AUTOEXEC.BAT.  Anything will work:
CURSOR A  or  CURSOR UP, or CURSOR HELLO WORLD, will all set the caps lock on.
Of course, you may not wish to use this feature if you have one of those
clone keyboards with a little light on the caps lock key, because it would
then work in reverse!

By the way, this added feature does NOT increase the space used by the
resident portion of CURSOR.  The caps lock is turned on in the install code
which is thrown away after it is used.  And of course, your caps lock key
still works!

Mark D. Pickerill 1/26/90


CURSOR 1.4:  Shrank the resident portion down by relocating it as low as
possible in the PSP as per Peter Norton's book.  This reduced memory usage
about a third.  Due to the vagueness of MS-DOS, CURSOR can take from about
270 bytes up to about 370 bytes.  This is due to several peculiarities of
MS-DOS, otherwise the program would only take about 40 bytes or so.  Took
about 420 (or more) to load CURSOR 1.3.  No operational differences.

Mark D. Pickerill  4/9/90

CURSOR 1.5:  Added Optional TSR support for caps lock handling.  This results
in 4 .COM files being distributed now:

CURSOR.COM:    No clock tick delays, no caps lock support
CURSORC.COM:   With clock tick delays, no caps lock support
CURSORCU.COM:  With clock tick delays AND caps lock support
CURSORU.COM:   No clock tick delays, with caps lock support

Caps lock support intercepts INT 21H and sets caps lock ON when an application
exits through function 00 or 4C.  It does not intercept INT 20H or applications
that simply RETurn to MS-DOS.  These are in the extreme minority anyway.
Installing TSRs will *NOT* set caps lock.

Caps lock support is for folks that like caps lock on most of the time, such
as at the command prompt.  Lets you turn it off in a word processor, etc, but it
is turned back on for you when the application exits.

This alleviates the need for my CAPS10 program, except for those who want this
function without cursor handling.

The feature introduced with version 1.3 has been modified.  If one of the
versions with caps lock support is loaded, this program will set caps lock
before it completes install.  No command line parameters needed.

Mark D. Pickerill  05/26/94



SUPPORT:

The "home" BBS for CURSOR.COM is the Hacker Heaven BBS at [phone].
We currently support baud rates from 300 to 14.4K+v.42bis.

In this day of media hype, it is necessary to point out that the word
"Hacker" means computer programmer, NOT computer criminal.  We do not
tolerate illegal activities of any kind.

OTHER PROGRAMS:

The following is a list of currently supported programs written by
Mark D. Pickerill, the author of CURSOR.  These may be found on the Hacker
Heaven BBS, or a fine BBS near you.  Most have been uploaded to EXEC-PC as
well.

AE:  Asm Edit.  A source code editor for assembly language programmers.
(at last!)  Supports auto-colons on labels, auto-comments, much, much more.
Removes the mundane chores of creating well-documented assembly language
source code.  A must for any serious assembly language programmer.
Distributed as AE*.ZIP where * is the version number.  AE22A.ZIP was the
latest at this writing.

UNLOAD86:  This is the end-all and be-all of binary to Intel Hex conversion
programs.  Many options, supports fill to end of ROM, the new "Linear extended
address records", more.  Includes Source.  Distributed as UNLD86*.ZIP where
* is the version number.  UNLD8616.ZIP was the latest at this writing.
A couple of the initial versions were distributed as UNLOAD86.ZIP.  These
are severely downrev, and should be deleted.

BAUDASC:  Converts ASCII <---> Baudot.  Allows use of the ancient Baudot
5 bit code.  Includes Source.  Distrubuted as BAUDASC*.ZIP where * is the
version number.  BAUDASC1.ZIP was the latest at this writing.

CURSOR:  Very tiny TSR forces your IBM PC compatable's cursor to a block
at all times.  Much smaller than other programs of its type.  Includes source.
Distributed as CURSOR*.ZIP, where * is the version number.  CURSOR15.ZIP
was the latest at this writing.

UNLOAD:  [for CP/M].  Converts binary to Intel hex.  Only supports the
original phase 1 Intel hex specification.  Distributed as UNLOAD*.ARK
(may be .LBR some places) where * is the version number.  UNLOAD23.ARK
was the latest at this writing.

HELLO:  [for CP/M *and* MS-DOS].  Writes the string Hello. to the screen.
Big deal huh?  The point is the *same* physical .COM file works under *both*
CP/M and MS-DOS!!  Distributed as HELLO.ARK and HELLO.ZIP.  Includes source.

INDIO:  [for CP/M]  Shows how to do indirect I/O (ala Z-80) on an
8080 or 8085 processor.  NO dedicated memory locations, ROMable routine.
Source only.  Distributed as INDIO.ARK. (or .LBR)

CAPS:  Old timers like me are used to command line input in UPPER case.
CAPS is a tiny TSR that sets caps lock when an application exits.  Most
folks won't like/need this program.  Distributed as CAPS*.ZIP where
* is the current version number.  CAPS10.ZIP was the latest at this
writing.  Includes source.


Discontinued programs:

The following programs have been written in the past.  I no longer support
them, most (but not all) are gone from my board, but they may still be
floating around "out there".  Feel free to use them if you find them, but
don't ask me about them...  Most were quick hacks anyway...

SPLIT.ZIP:  Splits a binary input file into two files, one containing the
ODD bytes the other containing the EVEN bytes.  Useful for programming two
EPROMs on a 16 bit bus.  Included source. (I think...)

FIXHEX.ZIP:  Used to fix certain deficient Intel hex files.  Would strip off
any extended address records, and ensure that a correct EOF record was on
the end.  Fixed the old MAC/ASM :000000  (incorrect) EOF record.

FONT.ZIP:  Reprogram EGA and VGA character fonts.  Great for getting rid
of that ugly fat exclamation point!  Define your on-screen fonts any way
you like.  Included source.

SYSTEM.ARK: [for CP/M]  Allows jumping to any place in memory.  Input in
hex or decimal.  Included source.

Dead programs:

The following programs have been written in the past.  I no longer support
them, ALL are gone from my board, but they may still be floating around "out
there".  I DO NOT RECOMMEND USE OF ANY OF THESE, AND REQUEST THAT IF YOU
FIND THEM, YOU ASK THE SYSOP OF THE BOARD YOU DOWNLOADED THEM FROM TO
DELETE THEM ASAP!!  These are obsolete and no-longer of value.

OLDUSER:  Designed to automate the process of deleting "old" users from
a Spitfire BBS system.  Has long since been replaced by an official
Spitfire function.  Only worked with a very old versions of Spitfire.

SFZIPDOR:  A program designed to allow Spitfire callers the ability to
extract and selectively download members of any archive format.  Worked
on my board, but pulled from distribution due to in-stablities of the
program.  Plus it won't work above 9600 baud.  Don't use this program!!!
A replacement is possibly in the works, either from myself or from Spitfire.

MSGUNDEL:  Or something like that, I no-longer remember the exact name.
Program would globally un-delete any deleted messages in a Spitfire BBS
system.  Program is no-longer compatable with Spitfire, AND is no
longer needed as Spitfire now allows the Sysop to turn off message deletion.